FUGING TUNE

An English or Americanhymnormetrical psalmcharacterized by structuralimitationin at least one section. Typically, a quatrain would have its first two lines set in block chords, moving to a cadence. The third line would be set with imitation, and the fourth would return tohomophony. The third and fourth lines would often repeat.

Fuging tunes originated in English parish churches in the middle of the 18th century. James Lyons published some of these inUrania(Philadelphia, 1761), the first American tunebook to contain them.

See alsoBillings, William; Sacred Harp.